Change starts from Rakyat
Since Mac 08, we have always asked PR to work harder, to have more integrity, to show us more proof that they can govern while quietly still hoping for BN to change so that we can have a better Malaysia for our children. We hope for the politicians to change their ways so that real change can happen in Malaysia soon.
Nice thoughts, but sorry folks, change will not happen that way.
By Tohkong Mosjid
There were 2 pieces of paper, a paper named BLACK and a paper named WHITE. BLACK was originally a piece of white paper, but because of its many past sins, hence it had turned black. BLACK had been around for quite sometime – he was actually quite proud of being black paper until the day the WHITE appeared out of nowhere.
WHITE gained a lot of popularity, because people liked its cleanliness and its decent image. The ever-increasing public acceptance of the WHITE made BLACK feel uneasy. BLACK wanted to regain the popularity and support that he lost to WHITE. He thought of changing himself into a white sheet of paper again.
BLACK wasted a lot of money on image makeovers but to no avail. No matter what they did, the dark stains on his body would still overwhelm whatever white spots that his image makeover designers tried to paint on him. His designers told BLACK that he could never be turned back into white paper. At most, he could only be made over into a decent image of a black paper with several white small spots on it — and because his black colour was too overwhelmingly strong, people would still find it hard to notice those new white designed spots as well.
BLACK got angry with the news, but reluctantly he had to accept the fact that he couldn’t be a white piece of paper again. He had to think of another way to rival WHITE’s popularity. But how? People liked white nowadays, but how could he possibly turn himself into white again? How could he kill off WHITE’s clean image in people’s minds?
Soon, he came out with an idea — to start sabotaging WHITE’s army to paint some black dots on WHITE. To BLACK, this idea was easily executed as white was the most vulnerable colour to get contaminated and he knew that the people would be stupid enough to fall for his manipulation.
To sabotage WHITE’s army, BLACK started the propaganda of telling people that WHITE was just as dirty as BLACK. He continued to give proof by highlighting each black dot on WHITE that he managed to sabotage. He bribed all the media to focus on WHITE’s black spots to further disgust people of WHITE. He continued attacking WHITE by telling the people that WHITE had cheated the people because he was not entirely white — WHITE had block colours on him just like his. He made sure this news went round the clock until it created a perception on the people that WHITE was actually a liar, and hopefully the people would return their support to BLACK.
In the end, he succeeded as people began to see that WHITE was no longer a white piece of paper, but white paper with a lot of black spots. He managed to bring down WHITE’s popularity by manipulating people’s thoughts by making them keep focusing on WHITE’s black spots instead of the other areas that are full of white. Now, he even managed to equate himself to WHITE in the eyes of the people, although the truth was, he himself was a piece of black paper with some tiny FAKE white spots while WHITE was still significantly a white piece of paper with several sabotaged black spots.
But who contributed most to BLACK’s success? No, it was not his advisors, but the stupid people who fell for his evil propaganda and the stupid people who couldn’t seem to understand the simple logic about the vulnerability of carrying white colour around!! BLACK knew that he would always remain relevant if he could make sure the majority of people remained stupid for many years to come.
REALITY
Now, let us get back to reality. Some questions for us to ponder:
1. What’s your feeling about Nizar (Pakatan’s MB in Perak) now? Compare it to the feeling you felt for him when Sultan Azlan Shah declined his request to dissolve the assembly.
2. Then how about your anger towards MACC when Teoh Beng Hock’s body was found in Plaza Masalam? Can you compare your feeling between now and then?
3. How about your feeling towards Pakatan Rakyat’s open squabbles versus MCA’s open media flip-flop? Which news did you find more annoying?
4. What about the horror you felt when you read about the fallen roof of Stadium Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin and the massive debt amassed by the Pahang state government? Or have you already forgotten about the news?
5. Why do you feel more distrustful of PAS over the unity-government fiasco rather than Muhyiddin and Utusan’s numerous racist remarks? Or are you being manipulated not to think rationally?
6. How about the news about RM42,000 to buy 2 laptops versus someone trying to bring Tok Guru Nik Aziz to Mekah for RM65,000? Which one sticks in your mind more, the event that had happened without punishment, or the event that did not happen but is being punished heavily in the media?
7. Why do we know so much about Kelantan’s politics but not Terengganu’s politics where its MB is still under heavy siege from his own colleagues? Are we too blind to see someone trying to paint a black spot on TGNA because he has become an icon for Pakatan?
Since Mac 08, we have always asked PR to work harder, to have more integrity, to show us more proof that they can govern while quietly hoping for BN to change so that we can have a better Malaysia for our children. We hope for the politicians to change their ways so that real change can happen in Malaysia soon.
Nice thoughts, but sorry folks, change will not happen that way. We can’t stay idle while hoping others will change things for us. The rule in our universe doesn’t work that way. To achieve change, FIRST we need to change our mentality before real change has a chance to kick in. There isn’t going to be any change if the rakyat’s mentality stays the same.
Some said BN’s survivs politically by controlling the judiciary, AG’s chamber, police, MACC, media, Election Commission and lately the ROS. All independent agencies in our country have been turned into a tool for BN to stay in power. Yes, I have to agree with this statement, but to me this is not the major contributing factor to why BN is still in power.
BN is still in power because of us. Yes, we are the ones being manipulated to ensure BN survives. But is that our real choice? Do we realise that we been manipulated to “always choose BN” all these while?
Why does the majority of us still think that Malaysia is better off with BN? Who instills the fear in us to resist change? Who paints the picture of a dark Malaysia in our minds if PR takes over the federal government? Is PR’s performance really that “bad” compared to BN after 20 months? If not, who makes us think that PR’s states are not performing well?
BN will forever survive politically if we fail to realise our weaknesses all these years and figure out a way to overcome it. BN is the master of manipulating our weaknesses. Because of having these weaknesses, we are very vulnerable to be manipulated by politicians, especially politicians from the ruling coalition who control the MSM. Until we realise and acknowledge our weaknesses — no matter how good the opposition is, the current government will remain in power for many years to come.
If we can’t change 1. Our forgetfulness and 2. Our subconscious “to follow the herd” mentality — rest assured no matter how much we shout about bringing change to our country, Malaysia will remain just the same with BN in charge. Pakatan can only do so much for Malaysia — if we don’t grow any smarter, they are not going to succeed. For a better Malaysia, we, the rakyat, (yes, not PR or BN) need to take the first step to change the way we think and stop ourselves from being manipulated again and again! Can we?
Vulnerability of white:
Imagine putting a white crayon next to a black crayon. Can the black crayon be dirtied by the white crayon? Hardly, because black can easily overwhelm the white colour. But vice-versa, can the white crayon be still as white as it used to be if it has been dirtied by the black crayon? No, the whitest white can be after being contaminated by black crayon is grey because white is the most vulnerable colour of all colours.
